City TourThe phenomenon of the Sun Alignment on Ramses II’s face is one of the most astonishing displays of astronomical engineering and religious devotion from ancient Egypt.
Twice a year, the sun’s rays penetrate the darkness of the inner sanctuary in the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, bathing the Pharaoh’s statue in a golden light. This centuries-old spectacle has now found a modern echo, deliberately replicated in the design of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), bridging the past and future of Egyptian heritage.
The Original Wonder: Abu Simbel Temple
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel, located in Southern Egypt near the Sudanese border, was commissioned by Pharaoh Ramses II (ruled c. 1279–1213 BC) of the 19th Dynasty. It was built not only to honor the great state gods but also to immortalize Ramses II as a living god.
Description of the Phenomenon
The temple is carved directly into a sandstone cliff. At the innermost part, known as the Holy of Holies (or sanctum sanctorum), four seated statues reside:
Ptah: God of Darkness and the Underworld.
Amun-Re: King of the Gods.
Ramses II: The deified Pharaoh.
Ra-Horakhty: The Sun God.
On two specific days each year, the sun’s rays travel more than 60 meters (200 feet) through the temple’s narrow entrance corridor and various halls, finally illuminating three of the four statues: Amun-Re, Ramses II, and Ra-Horakhty. Remarkably, the statue of Ptah, the god associated with the darkness and the underworld, remains permanently cloaked in shadow, a deliberate feat of architectural and astronomical genius.
The Dates and Their Significance
The precise alignment of the sun is believed to mark two highly significant events in the life of Ramses II:
October 22: Widely believed to mark the anniversary of his birthday.
February 22: Widely believed to mark the anniversary of his ascension to the throne (coronation).
The entire solar event lasts for approximately 20 to 25 minutes just after sunrise. It is a major cultural event, drawing thousands of visitors to Abu Simbel annually for the corresponding Sun Festival celebrations.
A Modern Shift
The original temple was perfectly aligned to celebrate the event on October 21st and February 21st. However, when the entire temple complex was meticulously dismantled and relocated in the 1960s—as part of a monumental UNESCO international effort to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser created by the Aswan High Dam—the perfect astronomical alignment shifted by approximately one day, resulting in the current dates of October 22nd and February 22nd.
A Contemporary Echo: The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)
The spiritual and scientific brilliance of Abu Simbel is now honored at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza, near the Pyramids. The GEM’s primary centerpiece is an 11-meter-tall, 83-ton colossal statue of Ramses II that stands in the museum’s magnificent Grand Hall.
The GEM Replication
The architects of the Grand Egyptian Museum were inspired by the ancient alignment. Using sophisticated modern engineering and astronomical calculations, they designed the museum’s entrance and its surrounding structure to replicate the celestial event.
The Intent: The design ensures that the rising sun aligns with the face of the colossal Ramses II statue in the museum’s atrium on or around the same dates as the original Abu Simbel phenomenon.
The Experience: This modern alignment transforms the Grand Hall into a dazzling visual spectacle, connecting the new museum to one of ancient Egypt’s most revered monuments. It symbolizes the continuity of Egyptian history and the deified king’s eternal connection to the sun god Ra, right at the doorstep of the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization.
The Dates: The sun’s rays are engineered to strike the statue’s face on or around October 22nd and February 22nd, mirroring the celebrations held nearly 1,000 km away in Abu Simbel.
Conclusion: Bridging Time and Genius
The solar alignment on the face of Ramses II stands as a timeless testament to the extraordinary architectural, astronomical, and spiritual sophistication of ancient Egyptian civilization. From the colossal temple carved into a mountainside in Nubia to the deliberate replication of the event in the contemporary Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, this phenomenon continues to serve two powerful purposes: it immortalizes the divine legacy of Ramses II and links Egypt’s past glories with its future cultural endeavors, creating a powerful, unifying narrative across millennia.
If you would like to enjoy this visit with us , don’t forget to check our Website Egypt Desert Nomad Tours
